Cartels fight a round with Mexican army...and win

October 20, 2019 By Silvio Canto, Jr.

For some time, I've been hearing about the cartels' firepower. It makes sense because they have millions of dollars and there are many high-powered rifles on the black market.

We saw it in the last 72 hours in Sinaloa, a Pacific coast state about 880 miles southwest of Dallas, Texas.

This is from news reports:

After being captured by Mexican forces, the Sinaloa cartel managed to wrest El Chappo's [sic] son free from government control with a stunning show of force complete with machine guns and rocket launchers. ............

Given that they were surrounded, the violence was continuing to rise, and there were hostages, the government surrendered and let Guzmán go.............My view is that the government made a mistake. Officials were probably caught by surprise or without sufficient forces to fight the well armed cartels.

Nevertheless, it was horrible to hear cartels claiming a military victory against the Mexican army.

What does President López-Obrador do? I hope he unleashes lots of force and deals a major loss to the cartels, perhaps even capturing El Chapo's son again. If not, we will see more policemen ambushed and trucks set on fire.

The cartels crossed a line in Sinaloa. Mexico must respond........... To Read More

California’s Narco-Socialists Pulled National Guard from Border to Protect Drug Profits

Why President Trump should federalize California’s National Guard.
 

March 4, 2019  Daniel Greenfield 

In California, history, like everything else, repeats itself as farce.

Governor Gavin Newsom came into office announcing that he was cancelling high-speed rail to nowhere, doubling down on high-speed rail to nowhere, and pulling the National Guard from, what he called, Trump's "manufactured crisis" at the border to deal with the greatest threat to California.
Pot.

The green crosses of marijuana dispensaries in Southern California easily outnumber the white crosses of churches or the red crosses of hospitals. Every other billboard in Los Angeles is either for a marijuana store, a marijuana app or a marijuana cookie. Wealthy shoppers in pricey areas browse through MedMen, a drug dispensary whose bare wood and glass are designed to make buying drugs feel like shopping for the iPhone X at the Apple Store. (The prices for MedMen’s drugs and the iPhone X might be comparable, but the Apple Store doesn’t have four burly security guards or an ATM at the counter.)

Lazy potheads with smartphones don’t have to bother making the trek out to a licensed drug dealer. Eaze is the app that wants to be the Uber and Eat24 of drugs. Its slogan is simple. "Eaze: Marijuana Delivered." The $52 million company operates in 100 cities giving Californians the ability to get their drugs without even having to get up off the couch for more than a few minutes at a time...........To Read More.....

 

A Look At Drug Testing

By Michael D. Shaw December 10, 2018 @ HealthNewsDigest

 

Workplace drug testing was jump-started by President Reagan’s 1986 executive order mandating it for federal employees. In 1988, Congress passed The Drug-Free Workplace Act (41 U.S.C. 81). This law requires some Federal contractors and all Federal grantees to agree that they will provide drug-free workplaces as a precondition of receiving a contract or grant from a Federal agency. Interest in such testing surely increased during the so-called era of “drug hysteria and skyrocketing incarcerations” (roughly translated as the 1990s).

Related to this are the testing protocols required by the Department of Transportation for employees of companies under its jurisdiction.

Drugs.com consulted 14 sources to compile its Drug Testing FAQs. Here are some highlights…

Drug testing is the evaluation of a urine, blood, or other type of biological sample to determine if the subject has been using the drug or drugs in question. Typical reasons for such testing include:

• College or professional athletic drug testing.
• Post-accident drug testing—a vehicular or on-the-job accident which may have involved human error and resulted in casualties or property damage.
• Pre-employment drug screening test or random, work-related drug testing to identify on-the-job drug abuse.
• Safety-related drug testing—if an employee’s job could lead to safety issues if judgement or physical ability were impaired.

Even as some companies are relaxing their policies on drug testing, presumably due to low levels of unemployment, few will argue in favor of having impaired employees on the job. Besides, the National Institute on Drug Abuse states that alcohol and drug abuse, including tobacco, costs the economy over $740 billion per year. These costs are related to crime, lost work productivity, and healthcare.

Over 9.5 million urine drug tests were positive in the U.S. workforce in 2015. The rates increased to 4% of workers tested in 2015 versus 3.9% the year before, per Quest Diagnostics. The Department of Health and Human Services certifies laboratories who may conduct drug testing for federal agencies and specific federally regulated industries.

However, no biological assay is perfect. In 2010, at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, results were presented from a study that reviewed scientific articles on drug screening published between January 1980 and September 2009. One finding pegged the rate of false positives at 5-10%, and false negatives at 10% to 15% of cases. According to study author Dwight Smith, MD, eating as little as a teaspoon of poppy seeds—less than the amount on a poppy seed bagel—can produce false-positive results on tests for opioid abuse.

That poppy seeds can create false positives was confirmed again in 2015, although urine testing was affected far more than oral fluid testing. The topic of false positives in drug testing is covered in some detail in this Drugs.com posting.

There is also the matter of quality control within the drug testing lab. Even though this issue was first raised at the dawn of testing, misadventures, while rare these days, are still being reported. This recent communication details leakage of specimen containers and cross-contamination.

Andrew Easler of Easler Education Inc. believes that properly educating the lab personnel is key. That’s why he founded the well-regarded DrugTestingCourses.com. Here are some comments from Andrew:

“Drug testing collectors and breath alcohol technicians will fail without quality drug and alcohol testing training programs. These professionals are supposed to be trained as the sentinels charged with alerting communities, employers, and law enforcement to those among us who may suffer from chemical dependency problems. When this process breaks down because of a flaw in the training and education system, bad things can happen.”

“At best, if the drug or alcohol testing process fails, an individual who could have been identified and treated continues to suffer and potentially puts the community at risk. At worst, if the testing process fails such that someone under the influence not only goes untreated, but is then allowed to work in a safety-sensitive position—operating a truck, train, or aircraft, for example—the consequences can be dire.”

'Gun them down' - Indonesia's president orders cops to shoot drug dealers

July 23, 2017

Pacific Rim countries tend to imitate one another because they are so integrated by trade, and the questionable trend of shooting drug dealers without trial has now come to Indonesia, following similar practices in Thailand and Philippines. It would not be surprising if Malaysia followed.............What's behind Indonesia's sudden interest in gunning down drug dealers? It might be a worry about its coincident problem: Islamofascism............. More

New U.S. Drug Policy For President-Elect Trump

By Dr. Carlton Turner Saturday, December 17th, 2016 @ American Center for Democracy

President-Elect Donald Trump promised to tackle the fast-growing widespread use of illegal drugs in the United States.

Since the 1970’s – except the Reagan years – the use of illegal drugs in the U.S. has increased and reached into every segment of society. The failure to control illicit drug use has led to a quasi-defeatist attitude. As a result, the media and the liberal/progressive establishment declared that since the “war on drugs has been a failure” it should be abandoned. Claiming the ‘war on drugs’ led to mass incarceration of non-violent criminals, draining excessive resources from the enforcement community, destroying the lives of young users, and in general, caused more harm than good. This led to new policies that effectively limited the enforcement of anti-drug laws.

The result? More Americans than ever are suffering today from severe health problems because more drugs with increased potency are available for use, as larger quantities and variants are being smuggled into the country.

The widespread use of illegal drugs has led to increasing number of medical emergencies, destruction of the family structure, negative consequences in youth development, more crime, more auto fatalities, more workplace accidents, and in general, more violence.

Is legalization the answer? For some, the legalization of “medical marijuana and recreational use of pot” – passed by voters in 28 states is the correct approach. They argue that legalizing marijuana is not enough; only when all illegal drugs are legalized the problem will no longer exist.

But an unbiased review of the health consequences, the increasing strains on law enforcement, more traffic accidents, rising incidents of child abuse, emergency room visits by young adults, increased violence and discipline and truancy among students, growth of domestic drug cartels and evident long-term residual effects on human development, paints a different picture than circulated in the popular pro-drug media. Still, legislative bodies that are bent on reaching the votes of young people are adding to this false narrative.

By now, George Soros and his funding of many drug policy groups with professionally tailored communication strategies has convinced many Americans that marijuana is a “medicine” needed by millions of suffering people. And his ploy has been vigorously reinforced by the Obama Administration, which abandoned support for international treaties that enforce anti- illicit drug laws.
If the legalizations of illicit drugs is not the answer, what is?

The Reagan Administration inherited a country where the comprehensive drug survey showed that one in nine high school seniors were smoking an average of 2 1/2 joints each day. They were stoned and could not study. Drug use in some military units was over 40%, the media was pro-drug with drug jokes prevalent on late night shows, and several pro-drug bills were in US Congress and state legislatures. Under President Carter, as today, the U.S. obligation under The Single Convention of Narcotics Substances, signed by President Johnson was not enforced. Mother-ships carrying large quantities of marijuana and cocaine were dumped offshore, flooding South Florida. Parents whose kids had drug problems were told by a Harvard Psychiatrist that they were the problem, not the mind-altering drugs their children consumed.

President and Mrs. Reagan had observed all these and decided not to accept bleak statistics that indicated the situation was hopeless. Instead, they opted to implement a firm policy to reduce drug abuse.

The strategy was national and international in scope and required a break with traditional federal drug policies.

The Reagan’s National Strategy included:

1. Drug abuse prevention through awareness and action;

• Emphasis on education and prevention;

1. Aimed at drug use by school-aged children focused on marijuana and alcohol
2. Sponsored by most effective sources

• Parents
• Peers
• Community
• business

1. White House East Wing focused hard on education and prevention
2. Drug law enforcement;

• Moved enforcement focus from drug itself to the criminal activities associated with drug trafficking
• Coordinated task force approach to anti-smuggling efforts including military support (interdiction)

3. International cooperation to control narcotics;

• Eradication of drugs within the source countries (marijuana, cocaine, heroin)
• Ambassadors to drug producing, transiting or facilitating countries instructed to keep focus on issue

4. Medical detoxification and treatment;

• Provided resources to States, allowing them to make allocations and decisions appropriate to local needs

5. Research and Development directed at causes, treatment, and understanding;

• All federal agencies to focus on research to allow for better understanding of the issues and develop therapies to reduce consequences.

The implementation of the Regan Drug strategy required an administrative framework supported by President, Vice-Pres and White House Staff.

An Executive Order was issued, designating the Director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office in the White House Office of Policy Development, as the President’s advisor on drug matters.  The director was assigned the responsibility for coordinating and overseeing both international and domestic drug functions by all executive-branch agencies. This integrated strategy, managed operationally by the heads of the 33 agencies with responsibilities in the drug area, resulted in a reduction of drug trafficking and abuse domestically and internationally.

The strategy was so successful that Congress under President George H.W. Bush decided to claim it by establishing the “Drug Czar’s” office. The parent groups, so critical to the Reagan strategy, were gradually eliminated by the bureaucracy created by the “Drug Czar.” Since the Czar office was created by Congress, it is focused on federal issues and not the totality of the problem – just another agency head fighting for appropriated dollars.  Moreover, the “Drug Czar” is no longer a member of the President’s staff with Cabinet rank and direct access to the President.

President Elect-Trump appears willing to break with Washington’s ways of doing business, just as President Reagan had. A new strong approach with a strategy similar to that of President Reagan’s can be an integral part of the Trump anti-drug Strategy, allowing him to reverse the trajectory of the devastating drug abuse epidemic in our country.
Our recommendations are:

1. By executive order, establish a small policy office ( max 5-7 people) inside the White House to handle the drug issue with Director being a Special Assistant to the President with similar authority per Reagan’s Director;
2. Reduce the federal bureaucracy by abolishing the “Drug Czar” office;
3. Oder all Executive Branch Agencies to enforce federal drug laws:
4. Set up an administrative procedure (such as an Oversight working group comprised of agency heads or deputies) for moving drug policy decision by the President throughout all Executive Branch Agencies;
5. Initiate a dialogue, through Presidents’ Ambassadors, with foreign leaders to garner international support in enforcing all international drug treaties;
6. Build the strategy around a national/international policy (not just federal) with components, similar to Reagans’, including border controls.

History has demonstrated that drug abuse can be reduced, but not without Presidential directions. No “drug czar” – no matter how well organized and funded -  has the authority to get things done without access to and having the Presidents ear and support. Given the drug-abuse crisis, we recommend President-Elect Trump implements an anti-drug strategy similar to President Regan’s.

* Carlton E. Turner, Ph.D., served as Deputy Assistant to President Ronald Reagan for Drug Abuse Policy and as Director of the White House Drug Abuse Policy Office. Turner is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on the pharmacology of marijuana.